Bay Area Derby Girls to host Frock Swap AND challenge style scrimmage on Friday June 5th, 8PM - 11PM at DRY ICE in Oakland, CA. Registration will start at 8, and scrimmaging will start at 9PM.

Bring Black/White shirt to skate in - if you have one w/ your number on the back, that's even better!

Bring your clean, tired duds to swap - **anything shiny gold will be snatched up promptly i'm sure!** - any leftover items will be brought to charity, by a BAD member.

$5 flat entry, even if you're not skating - if you ARE planning to skate -bring insurance information, full protection (helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads and MOUTHGUARD) water bottle (Snack bar will be open for purchases as well)

Remember, no drinking, no drugs, no douche bags!

Please register here!

May 23rd - Oakland Outlaws vs. Redwood Rollers

Holy. Mackerel. I had a good time last night!

Two weeks ago, I came across a semi-panicked email from Humboldt Roller Derby. They had a double-header planned in 14 days and the visiting team scheduled to play their A team just canceled! I casually mentioned it to my Oakland Outlaw teammates that night and shockingly, they all jumped on board immediately. I can't stress how impressed I am that we rallied fourteen girls to drive five+ hours up to Eureka on a holiday weekend with less than two weeks notice. Those girls are champs!

And I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are *so* glad we made that trip up. The Humboldt league was hospitable and welcoming! All the women and men in the organization were very friendly (even the coach despite any misunderstandings. ha!). The sell-out crowd was loud and enthusiastic. The announcer was on point and outrageous. The whole thing was pleasantly surprising.

Did you know that Humboldt gave each of us a redwood tree to take home and plant? Did you? Did you know we each got four drink tickets for the after party? Did you? Did you know they made cupcakes? Did you know they gave us all framed bout posters? Did you know they gave us chili dogs after the game? DID YOU?! It was awesome.

So, on to the game. Oakland had no idea what to expect. We had never seen the Humboldt girls play before. We had a mixed roster of veteran players and rookies. A few of the girls had never been in a real, live bout before. We were confident that as a unit, we'd all excel together.

First jam in and things are not looking so good. Sissy Jr. flies out of the pack for the Redwood Rollers and puts up four points and calls it before Jane Hammer can get out and score. Uh-oh.
The Outlaws had a little bit of trouble adjusting to the floor. It was similar to the polished concrete floor that we skated on in Stockton. But it was much better than that one! While we weren't slipping all over the place, it was very hard to get speed and feel comfortable crossing over in the turns. When you have to adjust the normal speed of your game, it takes a while to get the timing and strategy back down. Coupled with that was the surprising ferocity of the Humboldt girls hits. While I was jamming, I wasn't grippy enough on the floor to be able to cut away when I saw a hit coming at me. There was no escaping, you just had to take it and struggle to stay upright. As a result, I am very sore and bruised up today.

But Oakland got it together and started picking up the points. At halftime the score was 55 to 27 Oakland. The second period was even more hard-hitting than the first. The penalties started racking up on both sides. Several jams went without a jammer. More than half of the jams in the second went on with one or more blockers in the box for each team. Tensions started to run a bit high. In the end, Oakland took the win with a 115 to 65 score. Everyone seemed happy that the game was over and thrilled that we all had fun with no drama! It's refreshing to finish a game with everyone smiling.

On an embarassing note, I'd like to use this space to apologize for a mini-tantrum I threw. In the last jam I was called out on an elbowing major that I didn't think I deserved (still don't think I deserve it actually). I was incensed! I threw my mouthguard on the ground (like 20 feet!), literally stomped my feet, and cursed more than once. Luckily it was too loud in the venue for anyone to hear me. That is lame behavior. I am known for being loud and volatile and "passionate." I had been working on keeping my emotions in check and had been doing very well. I hadn't had a tantrum since Western Regionals last year! I went 8 months! EIGHT MONTHS! *sigh*

Anyways, thank you to the Humboldt league for being such generous and nice hosts! I'd love to come up again sometime and I highly recommend any other teams in the area take Humboldt on! It was a great experience.

I know, I know. I've been lagging. This blog stuff is hard to keep up with. In the last few weeks, I took in a few games. There were a couple games I wasn't able to attend. Since most of the games involved teams that I'm not on, I don't have any access to their stats or official rosters. The games I did attend, I wasn't able to take notes. So I think I'll just address each bout with a few opinions and a scattered fact here or there.


May 9th - B.A.D. All-Stars vs. Rat City All-Stars:

This was a heavily anticipated re-match. Both of these WFTDA teams are ranked within the top ten of the nation. They've played each other several times. Because of their rankings and their history, DNN allowed Kitt Turbo, Mandi Festo, and myself to do a live text broadcast with live streaming video courtsey of Moose Ondaluce. Careful with that link, you may need a Kitt Turbo translator.

For the bout, I was mainly focusing on the Rat City pack as Mandi watched BADs pack and Kitt Turbo watched the jammers. I couldn't tell you how the game went overall. I couldn't tell you what I thought of the reffing. I can't speculate on the jamming. I didn't see any of it. It's incredibly hard to take in everything you're seeing and figure out what you want to broadcast and then actually type it in. Not to mention, I am a hunt and peck typer. And I had to publish and respond to viewer comments as well. It was tough business but I'd love to give it another shot sometime.

A few things stood out in my memory. Taxi Scab, an important blocker for Bay Area, suffered an injury during warm-ups and had to sit out the whole game. Liza Machete, BAD's resident tough girl, was ejected from both periods for too many majors. Camen Getsome was ejected for Rat City in the second period for also having too many majors. BAD played primarily in the front of the pack while Seattle clearly preferred working in the back. Apparently, both teams had complaints about the reffing. Not surprisingly, both teams were very pentalty heavy.

The final score was 182 to 117 Rat City.


May 16th - Sonoma County Homewreckers vs. The Syndicate (of the Chicago Outfit)

It's not often that you see a non-WFTDA team travel a couple of thousand miles away to play another team. But I'm sure glad that Sonoma made the trip out to Chicago! I was lucky enough to be able to accompany the team out on their trip. I loved being able to support the team in person but I was also very happy to see my former leaguemate Terra NuOne as well as recent Sacramento transplants Daddy's Girl, Gaygan, and Photon Pixie. All four of those girls skate for the Syndicate. Is there a Northern California exodus to Chicago roller derby? Am I next? Hmm...

Right off the bat, Chicago started laying the boom. They hit hard, they hit fast, and they hit often. Sonoma definitely had their work cut out for them after the first four jams resulted in three jammer majors for their struggling team. In the derby world, the first five to six jams are often referred to as "The Ten Minutes of Terror." It's when you go into a game not knowing what to expect and then getting *rocked* by the other team. But it's only ten minutes because by that point most teams are able to reassess the situation and get a grip. Sonoma was behind for the whole game but they were able to start putting up some points and tightening up their defense. At one point in the second period, the score was separated by only 15 points. However, Chicago started pulling away in the latter half of the second period.

The final score was 114 to 69 Chicago. In the end, I personally felt that Sonoma had the more individually talented team but that Chicago had the teamwork and the strategy down more. As for who won the afterparty? Actually, I kind of think I won it for once! I shut the bar down which is a rare occasion for me. I also somehow convinced a bunch of girls to show their boobs which is an even more rare occasion! And I didn't pee my pants or throw-up or cry! And technically, since I wasn't skating, my "afterparty" included the six pack I drank during the bout. So yeah... I win!



May 16th - 17th - The Big One Tournament

I wasn't there since I was off partying in Chicago. I am not the least bit surprised to hear that the San Diego Derby Dolls ran away with the win. They went undefeated all weekend. Angel City took second place as the L.A. Derby Dolls took third and the Sac City Rollers skated away with fourth place. Defeated in the first round were: Bay Area, Central Coast, Sacred City, and OC.

For a more detailed account of the teams and the tournament, you can read my preview of The Big One here.



May 16th - Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats vs. Brentwood Brawlin' Betties

Santa Cruz won 171 to 98. That's all I got!

Roller Derby....it's everywhere.

This weekend my home team The Oakland Outlaws made a last-minute trip up to Eureka, Ca to play the Redwood Rollers (of Humboldt Roller Derby).

Since the Memorial Day drive from my house to Eureka took about six hours, I had a lot of time to sit in the backseat and ponder roller derby (thanks for driving, John Diss!). As we passed through the upper part of Sonoma County, I saw exits leading off to Lake County. My family owns a vacation home in Clearlake and I actually spent a few years in junior high living there. I jokingly asked John if he thought there would ever be a Clearlake Roller Derby league. We were sceptical.

A little while later, we made it up to Willits which is in Mendocino County. We decided to make a pit stop and get some food and stretch our legs. While browsing around a health food store, John and I overheard two of the cashiers talking..

"And even the referees have funny names! Like Jerk Diggler, like Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights!" (not an exact quote)

Diss and I just looked at each other knowingly. There's only one sport they could be talking about. Being the nosy little eavesdropper that I am, I asked if she was talking about roller derby.

And that's how I met Half Pint, a skater with the new Mendocino County-based league the Mendo Mayhem! We talked a little bit and she informed me that they were having a promotion bar night in a few weeks. At a bar in Lakeport. So it lookes like roller derby is coming to Lake County afterall!

So now we have leagues in: Humboldt, Redding, Mendocino, Sonoma, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Tahoe, Stockton, Fresno, Merced, Santa Cruz, Antioch, Chico, Modesto, and Sonora!

Did I forget anyone in Northern California?

Events Other Than The Big One...

In other Nor Cal derby news...

In Stockton, the Port City Roller Girls will be hosting the Battle Born Derby Demons from Reno on Saturday May 16th, 2009.

Also on May 16th in Santa Cruz, the brand spanking new Antioch-based team the Brentwood Brawlin Betty's will be bouting for the first time against the Santa Cruz Derby Girls new B team, the Harbor Hellcats.

Sonoma County Roller Derby will be heading all the way out to Chicago this weekend to battle the Chicago Outfit's travel team the Syndicate on Saturday night.

On Sunday May 17th, the Silicon Valley Roller Girls will be hosting a free outdoor exhibit in Roosevelt Park in San Jose.

The Big One - May 16th - 17th, 2009

This week the Angel Ciy Derby Girls will be hosting the second annual "The Big One" in El Segundo, CA. It's essentially an all-California flat track roller derby tournament that will determine a "Champion" of California. Last year, the tournament was hosted in Davis, CA by the Sac City Rollers and the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls. The B.A.D. All-Stars took home the trophy, while Sacred City took second and ACDG took third.

Competing this year are some new and old faces for the tournament. Coming back for a second shot at the trophy are: Angel City Derby Girls, Central Coast Roller Derby, Orange County Roller Girls, Sac City Rollers, and Sacred City Derby Girls.

This years newly invited teams are the San Diego Derby Dolls and the famous banked-track league the L.A. Derby Dolls. The B.ay A.rea D.erby girls will also be attendance this year but the reigning champions will be sending their B travel team, Plan B.

The eight teams competing were pre-ranked by every participating league prior to the tournament. Their seeding determines who they will play on Saturday during the qualifying rounds. Their rankings are as follows:

1. SCDG Sacrificers

2. ACDG Hollywood Scarlets

3. B.A.D.G. Plan B

4. OCRG Orange Crushers

5. SDDD Wildfires

6. CCRD All-Stars

7. LADD Ri-ettes

8. SCR All-Stars

The tournament begins on Saturday with the eight teams placed into two groups. Group One includes Sacred City, L.A., Bay Area , and San Diego. Group Two is Angel City, OC, Central Coast, and Sac City. Each team will play the other three teams in their group in 30 minute mini-bouts. The top two seeds from each group will advance to the semi-finals on Sunday. Oddly, it seems that there will be two semi-final full length bouts on the second day, but then only a championship bout to follow. How will they determine 3rd and 4th place if the two non-winning semi-final teams don't play each other?

So on to my opinion. Group One looks.... rough. Those are four very established leagues. Sacred City was last year's second place winner and is coming into the tournament ranked as #1. Though Plan B has only played one game (a win against Santa Cruz last year), they are certainly very strong. Stronger than last year, I would say. L.A. and San Diego are well known for being banked track skaters but the Wildfires crushed AZRD earlier this year and fought a tough battle against a top 10 WFTDA team, Duke City last month with a 77 - 71 Duke score. The Ri-ettes have had recent wins against KCDC (a Kansas City and Duke City hybrid team) and Oil City.

Prior to checking the schedule I would put the top four teams to go into the semi-finals to be (in nor particular order): Sacred, BAD, ACDG, and San Diego, with L.A. being a very close number 5. Sadly, the top four won't even be close as only two of those teams can make it out of their first group. The seeding seems a little lopsided, that's all I'm saying...

Group Two will play out the way it should according to the rankings though. ACDG will dominate, Central Coast will probably take second. Sac and OC I think are pretty evenly matched but I think Sac might actually get the upper hand in a bout against OC.

Unfortunately, I will not be attending the tournament this year :( But I'm sure you guys will all tell me how awesome and crazy and fun it was. Good luck to all the teams, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

B.A.D. All Stars vs Rat City!

Event: B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls All-Stars vs. Rat City Roller Girl All-Stars
Date and Time: May 9th, 2009 - Doors at 6:30 pm, Bout at 8 pm
Location: Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco CA


On Saturday night the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls are hosting their first inter league bout in San Francisco! They will be taking on the notoriously fast and hard-hitting Seattle team, the Rat City Roller Girls.

The last time these two teams met was in June 2008. Rat City started off the night with a commanding lead. At one point in the first half, B.A.D. was down by 45 points. But they rallied back and the game ended in a much closer 93 - 88 win for Rat City. In their previous match-up, Rat City beat the Bay Area team 112 - 25 at the 2007 WFTDA Western Regional Tournament. The two teams also played against each other in a 2006 mini-bout at Bumberbout. Not surprisingly, Rat City also won that one with a score of 68 - 13.

I'm sure that B.A.D. would absolutely *love* to notch their first victory over the Seattle crew. Though they have fallen to Rat City three times before, B.A.D. is currently ranked #1 in the WFTDA Western region while Rat City is ranked #5. This bout can go one of two ways: B.A.D. can get their first win against the legendary Rat City and assert their position at the top of the west, OR, Rat City can win and launch their 2009 comeback campaign to regain their status as the most feared team on the West Coast.

The teams look a little different since the last time they squared off. Though neither team is fielding any rookie skaters, their rosters are noticeably different. B.A.D.G. is skating with only eight girls from their 2008 team. Rat City is skating with just six players from last years bout against Bay Area.

The notorious trio of blonde sisters (Blonde N Bichin', D-Bomb, and Femme Fatale) have moved on to either retirement or the Oly Rollers. But the team has filled out their roster with the worthy additions.

On the B.A.D. side, they lost last years skaters Pia Mess, Mandi Festo, Killer Vee, and Racey Lane. Luckily they were able to add veteran skaters Friskie Meow, Diva Negativa, Polly Puredread, Jane Hammer, Astronaughty and Nina Beretta.

No matter what the outcome is in this game, the people of the San Francisco Bay Area are the ultimate winners. This will be the first time that the casual and/or die-hard local fans will get a real look at top-tier nationally competitive roller derby. I, of course, am rooting for a good night for the B.AD. Girls...but a close, exciting, unpredictable game wouldn't be so bad either :)



B.A.D.G. Roster: Astronaughty / Brawllen Angel / Burly Bot / Demanda Riot / Diva Negativa / Friskie Meow / Jane Hammer / Liza Machete / Lusty Malice / Nine Beretta / Polly Puredread / Sassy Slayher / Taxi Scab / Velveteen Savage

R.C.R.G. Roster: Anya Heels / Astroglide / Carmen Getsome / Darth Skater / Deadly Aim / Georgia O'Grief / Hideous Braxley / Juliet Bravo / Katarina Whip / Rebel Belle / Summer Assault / Swede Hurt / Valtron 3000 / Wile E. Peyote

May Day Massacre Re-Cap

Event: May Day Massacre - May 2nd, 2009


SF ShEvil Dead vs. SVRG Dot. Kamimazes
Halftime Score: 49 - 40 SVRG
Final Score: 127 - 65 SVRG

The re-match between these two familiar teams was sure to be interesting. There were some big pile-ups, some questionable non-calls, some jammer theatrics (just call the damn jam already! Enough with the dramatic slow arm waving...Pia Mess!), and a miniature fight!

In the sixth jam of the second half, ShEvil Dead captain Kimfectious tackled SVRG jammer Terribelle Demise after she had collected her tenth point in a runaway jam. Kimfectious literally put both of her arms around Terribelle's waist and pulled her to the ground. Justifiably angry, Terribelle Demise jumped up and gave Kimfectious a little shove. This resulted in game expulsions for both players as physical contact like that is strictly prohibited.

So..I got really mad when that happened. I was pissed about the tackle take-down because it was just so stupid and pointless. She had already collected the points, she was already out of the pack. It was just a bad display of sportsmanship. On the other hand, if someone had done that to me, they would have gotten more than a one-handed shove. And I understand how that may seem hypocritical. But I personally feel that sometimes retaliatory play is alright. Just because I didn't start the shenanigans, doesn't mean I have to lay there and take it.

Moving on...

Coco Motion was the high scoring jammer for ShEvil. She had 36 points in ten jams. Rookie jammers Belle Right Hooks had 15 points in six jams and Knock Knock took 14 points in ten jams. Five other SF skaters wore the star for the reamining nine jams of the game but they were kept off the score board.

For Silicon Valley, Terribelle Demise and Smashleigh both captured 33 points during the game. Terribelle Demise skated in only five jams before her early second period expulsion while Smashleigh skated in nine jams. Smack Dahlia had 26 points in ten jams and Pia Mess had 22 points in seven jams. Booty Vicious scored eight points in her sole appearance on the jammer line and Mistits collected a five point grand slam after a jammerless jam forced the blocker to don the star for one shift.

The final score was very similar to the score the last time these two teams met up (126 to 55 ShEvil), but the winners were switched. Congratulations to the Dot.Kamikazes for their marked improvement.

-----

Sacred City Disciples vs. SVRG Killabytes
Halftime Score: 78 - 18 Sacred
Final Score: 148 - 44 Sacred

The second bout of the night started off with a little scare as Sacred player Wrench Wench went down in the third jam. I'm not aware of what her official injury is, but from my seat, it was definitely an ankle injury. I could almost guarantee it was broken from what I saw. I hope she is doing well and recovers quickly from whatever injury she received.

The Disciples offense was on fire from the get go. Her Meechness set the tone for the game when she stormed out with a nine - zero score for the first jam. The Killabyte's jammers struggled against Sacred's hard-hitting and relentless blockers. With the exception of Her Meechness, the Sacred jammers usually always called it off after the first scoring pass. So although the SVRG jammers were able to fight their way out of the pack, often the jam would be over before they made it back for a scoring pass.

Sacred jammers Her Meechness and Rosie Rampage were like runaway trains in the second game. Meech scored 56 points in 11 jams and Rosie Rampage took 52 points in 12 jams. Rosie Rampage actually gained lead jammer status 11 times out of those 12 jams. That's...hold on, let me get my calculator... 92 %! Rosie and her coach seemed to have worked out an interesting strategy. Whenver Rosie gathered lead jammer status but the opposing jammer also came out of the pack around the same time, Rosie would call the jam and then skate right back to the jam line and go again. She wanted to score on her own terms, it seems.

Sacred had only two other jammers for the entire game. Jenergizer Bunny scored 21 points in five jams and Pink Devil scored 19 points in 11 jams.

While the Disciples only used four jammers, Silicon Valley jammed seven different women! Double Easy was the highest scoring out of the bunch with 17 points in ten jams. Zootown Throwdown gathered nine in ten jams and Booty Vicious had seven points in six jams. Lizapalooza took four points in two jams, Spankin Firecracker had four points in three jams, and Cyntax had three points in jams. Scooter Over, who jammed in both games for the night, was held off the score board in her two jams against Sacred.

Sacred's B team The Disciples extend their winning status to another game this season. Congratulations to them as well!